After a brief stint working counter-intelligence in the Army in mid-1950s Vienna, William Glenn took a job with the Office of Naval Intelligence. In 1962, he was working at NASA shortly after the Berlin Wall was erected, and he was called to active duty in the Navy. Glenn went on to become an intelligence officer as well as a test pilot, doing two tours of duty in Vietnam plus assignments along the DMZ in Korea and stateside, where he was involved in, among other cases, investigating the kidnapping of heiress Patty Hearst.